ATV/Bike Tow Rope...

Look what the brown truck brought me today. I was shopping on ebay and found a nice roll of it. This stuff is 3/4" wide and maybe 1/16" thick, and rated pulling strength of 1800#'s. What better material to carry on your bike, atv, or even hiking. You can carry dozens of feet of the stuff have no appreciable weight to be toting around.

I've used it before to pull a bike out of the woods and had no issue at all. Just a great utility item to carry on your remote adventures, Jeep, ATV, Bike, Hiking, Emergency repair kit. You name it.

Like a friend told me he wanted a few hundred feet of the stuff for use in his Toyota to drag trees and anything else that might be in his way when out wheeling. Feel free to contact me if you would like some too.

No fingers aren't that dirty,its the contrast of the cell phone camera and direct sunlight with the bright white of this reflecting  light.

Just a tidbit...

The little XT is like the energizer bunny. It just runs and runs, always ready to go where you point it without giving worry or a reason to doubt its ready to go.
Last night the winds was howling in anticipation of the coming climatic change, the XT and I danced the dance to work, with a little shrug here and there due to the violent cross winds. On the pavement its not a big hassle you just micro correct and go on, but on the gravel roads its a little more dire. Sudden movements of the bars a loose surface can land you a front place report on the face plant forum on ADVRider.com and no one whats that kind of of publicity.
 We went out this morning to pay a few bills and make a deposit in the bank in the rain. I can say I like the FX-37 in the rain well too, I made a side trip to the Army Surplus store and found a little wool green scarf to shield the neck from the winds of change that was blowing through today.

Not really much more to tell, except I was in the shop and on the LC4 and see if it would start. It was a big FAIL, it turned over great with the battery but refused to fire up. I rarely regret bikes or car purchases and the last one I seriously remember regretting is a Mazda 626 that blew the engine the first day we had it. The second I can honestly say is the KTM as much as I love riding it, it has not been a heart warming experience in any form. I'm so tired of working on it that I doubt I will again.

AFX FX-37 Dual Sport Helmet part II

I've had a few days with the new helmet now for over a a hundred miles commuting to work.
I can say that I like it. Sure the optics are not perfect, but at speed you never notice it.
It could use venting control on the chin guard, it lets a fair amount of cold air in through the opening there and there is no regulating it.
Noise...
There is a fair bit of wind noise from air flow over the helmet.
The visor is quite high but I was able to tuck my head a little block the morning sun riding without much trouble.
you will also notice cross winds with it too, seems to catch the wind a little more than an MX helmet.

I'm also still noticing two pressure points when wearing it, just above my forehead, I think a little adjustment with a hammer to shape/soften the foam just a little will cure this, maybe even sand it out just a little with some 100 grit paper.

Yamaha XT350 update...

Here is my reliable steed, I was working on it today, doing a little repair work and making improvements along the way.
I lubed the chain, this is important on a bike that uses a 426 sized chain like the 350 does. It will stretch and ruin sprockets in a hurry if you abuse it and try to ride it like a sport bike. But it quite servicable if ridden with a moderate amount of sense.
I also hope I cured another issue today. Time will tell on it. The front brake would start dragging randomly and could cause an accident. So I took the caliper off a parts bike and changed it to try and get a handle on the situation.

 Next on the list I worked the pannier bags, I'm still not exactly happy with the lay of the bags om the little XT, but they're on there and should be functional.
They have enough room for a weeks travel if you decide to get out of the rat race of every day life.

After all thats what an Adventure Bike is all about, go see places that you normally couldn't and explore places that you would typically need a four wheel drive to get there if possible then, the bike can get down that game path you always wanted to follow if you have the gonads to go there.

Next on the todo list was work on the fairing, its nothing more than an Acerbis headlight shell that I cut the number plate off of and attached it to the stock headlight shell for the added wind deflection. It also serves as a shield for my GPS that is mounted behind it.

I simply mounted it with some metal screws through the plastic and it seems to work quite well for the purpose intended.

Here is my improvised GPS mount.
Its a ram cradle, attached to a piece of a bark buster, that is in turn attached simple U shaped bracket I fabbed up from some scrap I found in the shop.

A little about the GPS I use, its a Lowrance XOG, it is discontinued and you might find one someplace on closeout for around $100. It has the functionality of a handheld unit, as in trails, bread crumbs etc, with the added features of an Automotive routing GPS. It was considered a Crossover device, and such devices have since failed due to a lack of popularity. I guess you would say the soccer mom won out and the whole world only wants to be told where to go instead of learning to use a full featured device for all the wonders it can provide.

AFX FX-37 Dual Sport Helmet. part II

I got a chance ride today with the new helmet.
I didn't notice any buffeting to much, but you tell its directional and can feel when you turn your head off of center. The distortions in the visor are not a bother at 40 to 70 mph and seems of no import when moving.
It does appear to noisy as far as wind goes, but I can't say its any more than my MX helmet just maybe a little more noticable mostly because it enclosed.
You will notice the cold wind hitting your neck and chin that I did not notice so much with the open MX Helmet.

There does seem to be two pressure points on each frontal lobe and that is yet to be a problem but I might have to do a little adjusting to the foam there.


More to come later since I worked on the XT350 today too.

AFX FX-37 Dual Sport Helmet.

I typically avoid buying things like helmets on-line because you never know if they're going to fit.
Last one I bought was a TMS Carbon Fiber Dual Sport Helmet, awesome as it looked, I could not wear it, even in ordering a XXL. Maybe it was XXL for a kid.
Well my son now wears the TMS and loves it.

I broke my rule when I found the FX-37 on closeout for about 1/2 price, I know it didn't have the great reviews of a Shoei or Arai helmet, but what do you expect from a sub $150 Helmet, remember that nearly all this stuff is manufactured in China now so it costs them no more to make an AFX than it does a Shoei, I would venture a guess they typically come from the same factory.

Well the big brown truck just left the drive dropping off the new Helmet, so of course I had to open it and try it on. It is sized XXL, my old MX helmet is XL so I was guessing the sizing to run a bit small and it is.
Its a tight fit on my cheeks and might press a little on the cranium but I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt and try it for a few weeks to see.
The optics are not great, there is a slight distortion dead center in the visor, but its not terrible, I've been in cars where the curvature of the windshield creates as much distortion. Time will tell to be honest.

One thing off the start is the visor has no detents. So there is no positive locks for opening it partially, time will tell if this going to be an issue with wind pressures and trying to say keep the visor from fogging up.
The sizing is such that if you order one I would go one size larger than you normally wear make sure your cranium will actually fit inside the thing.






Over all for the price the finish good, the styling is okay, I'll check back in a few days with an update once it quits raining and I can give a trial on the road.

Rain Suits...

This time around I got a report on some rain gear.
The wife bought me a Coleman Rain Suit, you know the typical green PVC type rain coat and pants.
I rode the XT350 to work last night in the rain ad cold, I was wearing my winter coat and thermal underwear and the rain gear over the top. Well the pants did a fine job keeping me dry and protected.
The rain coat another story, the whole side split out, not on a seam but the material just split.
So I have to say this was a total bust and waste of money. Better save them pennies a little longer and get a quality rain suit.
Big thumbs down to Coleman Rain Gear.